To: hammer who wrote (621 ) 3/11/1999 12:50:00 PM From: DizzyG Read Replies (4) | Respond to
Better be careful or you'll be living in a trailer down by the river...Online Trader Gets Humbled These days, Mr. Swancey has largely dropped off the Internet chat circuit. He says he has had to sell his 5,600-square-foot home, a rental property and his 1995 black pickup truck to pay off debts and raise cash. Almost all his money is tied up in Midland, whose shares -- which were listed on the OTC Bulletin Board, maintained by Nasdaq, for stocks that don't qualify for Nasdaq itself -- haven't traded since they were suspended in August by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC has questioned Mr. Swancey and charged two former Midland officials with securities-law violations. An SEC official declines to comment. As part of his research, he flew to Dallas to interview company officials. He started two stock-chat Web sites about Midland that attracted thousands of messages. "I could quote page numbers of the [company] filings with the SEC," says Mr. Swancey. A parade of top executives also passed through. One, Mark Pierce, was sued in December 1997 by the SEC in New York federal court for allegedly trying to manipulate the stock price of Midland's predecessor company. Mr. Pierce denies wrongdoing in that pending case. Then the SEC suspended trading, citing concerns over "the accuracy and adequacy" of information about Midland. Midland's current chairman, Roger Tompkins, says he is trying to get trading resumed. (On the last day of trading, Midland common stock traded at 32 cents a share, down from a high of about $2.60 a share last May. Midland preferred shares last traded at $5.) But he offers cautious words to would-be Internet traders: "Trust no one." Anyone who wants to trade online, he adds, needs the right tools, knowledge and discipline. "It is a vicious, vicious arena," he says. techstocks.com
